


Strobe: An Adventure Time Fanfic

by theYangst



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Character Death, Epic Battles, Epic Fail, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Lemon, M/M, Plot, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rebellion, Sexual Violence, Shameless Smut, Slow Burn, Smut, Some Humor, Tags Are Hard, Violence, War, Weird Plot Shit, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, strobe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-12-17 07:51:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theYangst/pseuds/theYangst
Summary: In an alternative universe, thousands of years after the Mushroom War, an accidental conflict changes the lives of the heroes and villains of Ooo. This story follows the living legends of a different kind of Ooo as they move past the flickering shades of light and dark.





	1. The Grey Areas

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read this fanfic. I appreciate anyone who leaves a comment about this work. I would really like to know how to improve this style of writing. I hope to update every Saturday. You can also read Strobe on my tumblr, the-yangst. Hope you'll hang on for the eventual smut...and the plot...yeah...

She was never used to seeing the shade of darkness. Every morning for the past few centuries were always met with sunburst. Sunlight accentuated the sugary walls of the castle she had built many years ago. Even then at night, dark never was the way to describe the atmosphere that surrounded her castle. Her kingdom looked like the moon smiling against the blanket of space.

 

This day, if it looked like one, would make a certain mark in her lifetime, however. Her deep chestnut eyes glared on the cookie-like clock on the wall. 11:00 am, it read, but if the skies had a voice, it would say otherwise. The candy royalty looked out her window, and back at the clock, and to the outdoors again. She did this about twenty times before finally sighing in defeat, as if accepting the reality that the sun just wasn’t up there where it had been in the past. In place of the sun however, was a mist of grey.

 

Realizing that she spun her head around for too many times already, she headed towards her full-body mirror to check out her form. She wanted to stay as proper and lady-like as she could, having to present herself to her people and convey a worry-free look. She didn’t want to scare off her citizens who had tendencies to implode from immense anxiety. She combed her long and wavy hair that gave off a scent of bubblegum, like her name. Her pink and rounded face was not as disheveled as she thought it would be. She knew she had the tendency to overthink, but she just curled her worries away into a sweet smile. The royalty looked down on her lengthy gown. It was a different shade of pink so as not to make others think she was nude. The thought of it made her laugh again and played with the golden, icing-like linings of her garment.

 

After grooming herself, the princess now turned on one of her own inventions. She didn’t bother naming the device, but she knew that once it had booted, it would display a map resembling the land she ruled along with icons that indicated the weather over each of the smaller kingdoms. She noticed that the same cloud-shaped icon marked all the kingdoms in the Land of Ooo. This was highly unlikely to happen, she thought. As one of the greatest scientists in all of Ooo, she knew she had to do something about this.

 

She walked over to another one of her inventions. This one isn’t grand. It’s literally just a microphone that sent invisible signals of sound to every nook of her kingdom. She spoke with a voice as sweet as the way she was made up of.

 

“Citizens of the Candy Kingdom! As you may have noticed, a strange grey mist has clouded the skies. We may not see the sun today. Fear not my dear candy people! I, Princess Bubblegum, will do my best to correct this strange weather. Oh and uhm...Peppermint Butler could you please come to my room? Bring Prince Gumball with you too.”

 

Moments later, she heard a knock on her door. “Do come in!”, she shouted gracefully while she was looking at the results of her weather contraption. A sentient peppermint donning a deep blue tuxedo and a man who was almost the splitting image of the princess stepped together inside the room. “We’ve arrived, milady! What would you like me to do?”, Peppermint Butler asked his mistress. “Thanks for coming on such a short notice, you two. Pep, I need you to fetch the two noble knights. You, Gumball, I need to discuss something with you.”, the princess stated, now with a worried look on her face. The butler bowed to the princess and scurried away.

 

Prince Gumball is the princess’ cousin and science apprentice. He sports a short, fluffy, and tufted pink hair. He wore a pink regal coat with a similar color scheme as the princess’. He donned silky trousers that matched his upper garment. He spoke as gracefully as his cousin, albeit more hurriedly as if he was about to go on a rambling. “I know what you’re worried about. I was up all midnight because all of a sudden, I was craving for candy-rock-cream-dream tarts so... I made some and then I was certain that I took about hours and hours then I looked outside when I was finally done. Then I looked at the time then uhh I screamed for a minute then I made some research. Yes, research!”.

 

The princess, not catching most of what her cousin said, kept a palm on her face. Before he could ramble again, the princess spoke up “Gumball just please cut to the chase. Tell me what kind of vapour we have to contain this time. Do we have to start making another Vart-o-roomba and-”. Gumball curved his brows up, “Princess this isn’t just another diarrhea outbreak from the cloud kingdom!” The princess couldn’t help then but giggle at the memory of the disaster, “What is it then?”.

 

Gumball frowned now and so did the princess, realizing that this could be a whole lot more serious than she had imagined. “I’ve received reports in the early morning. Hunson Abadeer showed up in seemingly random kingdoms”, Gumball tried his best not to get off topic. “They said he started sucking souls again like he did a millennia ago when he didn’t have a control over the Pandemonium Crystal...but i-it’s different this time. It’s more than just playing with the souls now. He made sure to completely pulverize every kingdom and town he went through.” Gumball trailed off into a state of thinking. Similarly, Bubblegum began to think of the fate of her kingdom. She didn’t want it to end up like the others. “We have to work on something...a serum maybe? One that will keep his powers down for a while so we can talk to him. We can’t let Abadeer destroy the Land of Ooo.”

 

“Can’t we just punch him? Then strangle him to death?”, a chirpy but strong voice resounded through the room. “Then...then kick him to life! And then punch him again to ultra death!”, another equally cheery yet older voice accompanied the young man’s remarks.

 

“Sir Finn and Sir Jake are here, milady”, Peppermint Butler spoke softly and once again bowed away.

 

Sir Finn is a seventeen year old knight, clad in a lightweight leather armor in the shade of blue. His golden hair flowed to his shoulders and upon closer inspection, looked like he had the body of a scrawny squire, but this fooled every enemy he encountered. He was strong as the legends say, earning the title of The Noble Sky for once bringing down a storm leviathan with his bare hands. He was a human capable of displaying magnanimous strength that was not of his species.

 

The knight next to the young man was a magical dog, that’s how his species was described nowadays. The golden furred hound was Sir Finn’s best friend too, fitting for the age old cliche of dogs being a man’s best friend. He was half as tall as Finn, but he was about twice as old as the young boy. There wasn’t much that adorned him, except for a set of almost invisible pants spun by magic spiders. His armor, or silk trousers, defied logic somehow. It was thin and looked terribly brittle but the stories of the candy bards say it could withstand rock blasts from the mythical sand dragons. He didn’t carry any sort of weapon. That’s because he is the weapon, having the ability to shape-shift his flesh into anything he wants, provided that his form stayed the same yellow hue. Accompanying The Noble Sky, the dog was named The Noble Sun.

 

Princess Bubblegum giggled, “As much as I like that idea, no. We can’t really kill him. Literally, he’s deathless. Besides, Ooo needs him for being the only being powerful enough to control and guard the power of that crystal”.

 

“He’s mad nuts now though. It’s crazy out there!”, Finn mentioned, waving his arms up.

 

“Calm down you three. I know you’re all worried, but I have a plan. Gumball and I will be working on an injection gun. We’ll formulate a serum that will calm Abadeer down so we could talk to him and ask him what happened. We’ll be his doctors too and help him control the evil inside his necklace. While we’re in the lab, the two of you brave knights should follow Abadeer around and save the kingdoms he tries to destroy”.

 

“That’s clear and easy. We’ll do our best, Princess!”, Jake announced, nudging Finn. “ADVENTURE TIME!!!”, the two of them screamed as they waved goodbye and leaving behind the two royals.

 

“C’mon Gumball. It’s sleepless science time, I guess...”, Bubblegum spoke and dragged Gumball towards the laboratory.


	2. The Anomaly

"Okay, that's it. I'm super exhausted now princess. My sugar level's all low and I just...", Gumball's tired voice abruptly transitioned into a snore.

"Yeah...we've done everything we could anyway. Finished the blueprints, created the prototype, crafted the proto-prototype, built the proto-prototype-type, finalized the machine, tested it under controlled and uncontrolled variables for a total of ten thousand times, and tweaked the system to make it a hundred percent accurate. The serum and the injection gun is flawless now. With a conundrum as serious as this, we had to make sure that nothing goes wrong...", the princess mumbled to herself and slowly yawned.

"Also we named it the Genetosiumorpher Utopiaracetamolabuprofen Neurocalmeraesteshianopsis...", the princess started to close her eyes and rest her head on the messy laboratory table. "...G.U.N for short", and like her cousin, her explanations were cut short by a barrage of snores.

Admittedly, the two scientists haven't slept for a solid ninety-seven hours just so they could finish the superweapon. The sooner they finished it, the sooner they could get the evil under control so they agreed not to take breaks until now. Their bodies were too tired to be awoken by the whirring sounds of complex chemicals bubbling, the small sparks from a welding torch, and the swoosh of a magical mist that darted around the laboratory.

The next thing they knew, they were being shook to life by a panicked Peppermint Butler. "Princess! Prince! Please, wake up! Abadeer's coming!" The butler's efforts were not in vain for the two jolted up as quick as they could. Bubblegum grabbed the G.U.N, noticing a slight difference in the weapon's weight. She knew she didn't have the time to dwell on her suspicions. She just ran with Gumball and Peppermint Butler as they rapidly headed outside the safety of the candy castle.

The main gate of the kingdom was wide open revealing a terrible sight. The grey mist from before had turned into a darker shade. There were no signs of stars, and the light that shone through the scene came from the multitude of lightning strikes. Candy people were running about, screaming. The princess had to do something before the citizens exploded. A few hundred feet from the gate was the silhouette of a gigantic demon. His head formed a massive pale sphere and a huge vertical slit on its middle signified the demon's mouth. It was lined with millions of sharp teeth and as soon as the lips parted, the mouth turned into a vacuum, pulling in souls from the candy citizens who couldn't run as fast as the others. Finn and Jake were also there running around the demon and trying to damage the beast.

"Gumball! Pep! Round up my people, keep them inside the premises of the castle, and make them stay calm! I'm going out to fire this on Abadeer!" The living mint and gum nodded and ran off to do as the princess said. The ruler on the other hand, sprinted towards the outskirts of her kingdom, careful not to trip on her lab gown. She stopped when she was less than twenty feet away from her chaos-driven ally. It was just the right range for the G.U.N.

"Finn! Jake! Keep doing that! Keep him steady!", the princess exclaimed at the top of her lungs, wishing her voice would be heard despite the loud roar of the demon wounded by the two loyal knights.

"Sure thing princess!", Jake growled and concentrated all his energy so he could stretch out his arms and subdue the mad demon. When Finn was sure that Abadeer couldn't move with Jake's help, he shouted "Go, Princess! Jake can't hold him much longer!"

And with that Princess Bubblegum pulled the trigger of the G.U.N, confident that the next events would go just as planned. The chemicals in the bullet she fired would seep into Abadeer, effectively stunning him and then making him fall into a deep slumber. As the bullet hit Abadeer however, Bubblegum's eyes widened at almost the same blindingly swift rate as the bullet expanded into a colossal black hole, except it wasn't black. It was like the way ancient humans weirdly used to call a green tinted sheet of chalk-writing slate, a "blackboard". Fear seeped into Bubblegum's, Finn's, and Jake's eyes as they all stepped back. Unknowing to the trio, Gumball and Peppermint Butler were also looking at the black hole in worry and awe. The butler stood his ground, now embraced by a crowd of trembling candy people while Gumball ran towards his cousin.

In a sweeping moment, the black hole engulfed a wailing Abadeer, leaving however, everything else that wasn't Hunson. As the demon got sucked into the anomaly, he spat out all the souls he had accumulated so far. A few befuddling seconds later, the portal vanished into thin air.

Breaking the silence, Finn was first to move a muscle. Everyone else still had their jaws way down their skulls. "Princess...THAT WAS MATHEMAGIRADICAL!!!", the knight then ran to the still shocked princess and held up his palm, motioning for a high-five. After seven awkward seconds of the princess not returning the radical gesture, Jake came to his best friends rescue and clapped his hand to Finn's. Bubblegum blinked twice and finally spoke, not moving her head away from the direction where the portal had once been, "That...works as well...b-but-". 

"-that wasn't supposed to happen...", Prince Gumball, knowing that the shock felt by his cousin would make Bubblegum lose her words, saved his cousin the trouble of speaking and completed the princess' sentence.

Nonetheless, the four of them turned their heads towards the castle after hearing shouts of bliss. The candy people revelled in joy as the danger was averted succesfully.


	3. Captured

"Geez, Bubblegum please give it a rest already! We're worried about you! You need to put that Twizzlescrew down and-", Gumball's dramatic protest was harshly interrupted.

"-AND WHAT?!", Bubblegum shouted, anger in her voice now conveying that she was annoyed as if this was the millionth time that Gumball tried to stop her. "Gumball! You and I know that Hunson wasn't supposed to disappear like that! What if it took him to another world and spread chaos somewhere? What if his power was taken by something even more sinister? What if his crystal broke into pieces and turned to precipitation and poisoned our food supply? I would recite to you trillions of what if statements from the results of my probability calculations but I don't have time for that! We don't have time for nonsense! Butterfly Effect and Chaos Theory, Gumball! I thought I asked you to review that?! DON'T YOU SEE HOW BAD THE SITUATION IS?! I WON'T ALLOW OOO TO FALL IN THE HANDS OF WHATEVER ANTE-GLOB THERE IS OUT THERE. I CAN'T! I...I-I just...", the princess' voice now broke out into a cry. She fell hugging herself on the floor.

Gumball, ran towards the princess and tried to take her in a hug. He looked up towards the eyes hiding at the side of the doorway, motioning them to stop peering and start coming in. Peppermint Butler, Finn, Jake, and finally, Lady Rainicorn stepped inside the room. Lady is Jake's wife and Princess Bubblegum's best friend. She comes from the Rainicorn species, her long body resembling of course, a rainbow. Her silky long mane was a paler shade of gold compared to her husband's fur. A shining ivory horn topped her skull. Her face didn't have any wrinkles, signifying that her days were always full of smiles. This time however, her lips curved down at the sight of the princess' pink hair sticking out in several directions.

Everyone, except Bubblegum, whose face was covered in her sticky hair, shot wary looks into every corner of the laboratory. Notes, choco-dust, twizzle-screws, candy-wrenches, sinister chemicals, and other sweet sciency tools scattered pointlessly around the floor. "Wow, Gumball. You weren't kidding. Our very own princess really out-Abadeered Hunson Abadeer this time", Lady voiced out slowly turning her gaze towards the princess. One fact about Lady was that she used to speak in a highly modified version of the ancient human Korean language. She still speaks it, as of now, except her language is actively translated into English thanks to Bubblegum's voice modifier device she installed in Lady's throat a few months ago.

"Thanks for coming guys. My cousin just didn't listen to me..."

"It's alright, man. Jake and I are going to help you fix this place up. Oh and PepBut's going to sub for the princess' appointments for a while", Finn blurted with enthusiasm.

"And we...are going to have a LADIES' NIGHT!", Lady beamed at Bubblegum. She only stopped smiling when she realized Finn, Jake, Gumball, and Pep were staring at her intently. They all spun their view to Bubblegum now, who finally stopped sobbing and started giggling. "Hehe...okay. I'll promise to at least take a day's break with you if you stop pushing your distasteful puns". Lady took Bubblegum away from Gumball's embrace and happily dragged her best friend up to her room. The others grinned at the sight of the princess and proceeded to do whatever they planned to.

After happily spending a few hours with Lady, Princess Bubblegum comfortably sat on her bed, now wearing a pink set of loose pajamas. Lady was glad that her friend finally got out of the lab coat that looked like it had been dragged against candy dust and harmful chemicals. "Peebs? What's on your mind?", Lady muttered hoping to break the train of worried thoughts that manifested itself on her friend's curious face. "Oh no it's nothing. I apologize for worrying you Lady. I promise I won't zone out again over Abadeer's disappearance. Hmm, you know, just 'Hubris' and all that mess", Bubblegum continued as she saw her rainbow friend looking like she expected for more. 

"I had too much pride in my inventions. I was so sure that none of my calculations went wrong. Gumball and I quintuple-checked all our numbers. I then tried breaking the G.U.N. down and reverse-engineered it. I was shocked at the results...it had been tampered somehow so I went on and on studying the change. I didn't notice how time flew and I just wanted Gumball to stop bugging me about this. He refused to help me in my study because he thought that the problem was solved anyway. No use crying over spilt demon-eating-black-but-green-hole-summoning-bullet-milk. It has been a couple of days now...maybe you guys were right. Maybe I just overreacted. I mean, at least one of the probabilities in my computations turned out that nothing's wrong", Bubblegum smiled for a few seconds before she yawned.

"You know well that if something does go wrong, we'll be here to save your royal butt. Me, Jake, Finn, Peppermint Butler, the candy people, and all of Ooo. Don't worry about it now princess. In fact, when you wake up tomorrow, we'll help you with your research. I swear i'm going to shave Gumball's prized hair-do if he refuses! So for now, I want you to catch up on your sleep", Lady pecked the princess' forehead after her encouragement. "Goodnight, princess. We'll see you tomorrow for science biz."

"That's sweet of you, but i'd really love to see a bald Gumball whether he helps or not. See you tomorrow, and thanks for everything, Lady. Goodnight!", she fell asleep quickly, fatigue pulling her eyes down only in a few seconds. Lady smiled at her, though the princess wouldn't see. The bright rainicorn then stepped out of the room.

For a second time, her deep sleep put her to an oblivious state. This time the princess didn't wake up though the window frame slammed hard against the wall of her candy bedroom. She didn't feel a thing when she was picked and tied up in rough ropes.

She opened her eyes a few hours later, hoping to see the soft sunlight brush the interior of her room. Instead of this, she was caught off guard yet again by darkness. She thought for a while and it came to her that she might've gone blind, overusing her sight for the past few days. She attempted to move her hands and rub her eyes. The princess gravely worried now when she figured out that her hands were tied and her eyes were blindfolded. Her knowledge of geometry aided her in blindly visualizing the room. She felt the pull of gravity and understood that she was vertically bound to metal clasps on a wall. Both arms and legs stretched in opposing directions away from her body.

Shortly after, she felt a cold hand slap hard against her face. It left a darker shade of pink on the left side of her face. It didn't take her long to feel that whoever kept her tied up here bore a millennia's worth of wrath. The violent and frigid particles of air around her behaved now as a wave, like a storm brewing slowly.

"Where the fuck is Hunson Abadeer?"


	4. A Hint of the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This whole chapter contains explicit sexual violence

Some things just don't add up. For a couple of instances, there was the folly with the miscalculations of the G.U.N, then the false equation she formulated upon thinking that she had only lived for a few centuries yet someone threatened her with a millennium's worth of remorse, and now, her newfound conundrum with the science of acoustics. She wondered how in Glob's miracles could an angelic voice blend so well with a demonic threat.

"Tell me what the fuck you did with him!", the princess heard the growl of a fallen angel yet again. Despite the fear in her heart, she felt fascination well up in the corners of her brain. She really had to read up on acoustics.

A deafening roar blasted in her ears now, the previous turmoil of a storm now on the peak of rage. "Useless bitch! Why won't you talk? Tell me the truth about Hunson!", another cold slap, this time on the right side of her face.

The princess snapped, "How dare you lay a hand upon me?! What sort of courage do you muster in your spirit for speaking this foul language to me? I am the ruler of Ooo! Don't you know that? If not, then i'll have you know that I willl call upon The Noble Sky and The Noble Sun to rip your guts away from your body and lay it out in the center of my kingdom for all to see! Then I swear to Grod, I will spit on your carcass and harvest your larynx for my research!", she tried blasting away empty threats to her assailant, hoping that she's all talk and will falter in surprise of the princess' tough side.

Her thoughts played out like a modified true or false exam. If her last statement were a question in the test, the answer would be an "FT", short for False-True. True, surprise did fill out the air around the room, but it came from the princess, not the assailant; and False, the unknown being was not all talk, and in an instant, "FT" took on a whole new meaning. A forceful tug pulled on the princess' hair and made her lean in. Hot breath over her ear contrasted chilled flesh grasping her waist.

"My carcass? How 'bout I spit on your ass? Save yourself princess! None of your fabled heroes will save you from here! Listen, I just fucking want the truth and maybe spare you of the worse to come but if you choose to be stubborn, i'll just force what I need out of you!", a fist lunged on the princess' abdomen. She howled in pain and wanted to curl into a ball, but her restraints stopped her from what little comfort she could get. In effect, she simply coughed and cried out the sensation from her gut. She knew she had to speak soon before her attacker could throw another blow to her body.

"I'm s-sorry! Puh-please don't hurt me. I...I really don't know..."

"WRONG. FUCKING. ANSWER. PRINCESS!", with every word, the tone of the voice tardily descended the stairs from heaven to hell. "Bullshit! You pulled the trigger on your superweapon! Everyone from Ooo saw you did it! It was all over the news and now you're telling me that you're not to blame for this?! You're not going to make a fool out of me!", the attacker sent a brutal kick to the princess' sides causing syrupy blood to drip on one corner of the princess' lip.

She felt an icy hand brush lazily over the fresh bruise on her side. A shriek escaped her throat as the hand painfully squeezed the darkened flesh. She heard a grunt while she felt her attacker's nails morphing into something sharper. Then the claws swiped down on the princess' pajamas, shredding it to mere pieces of pink silk. As if bracing herself for the incoming and unwanted advances, she bit her lip and weeped. Unexpecting to her, the holy voice came back and whispered gently to her ear, "Last warning. Tell me what I need to know."

She had no alibis running in her head so she could only reiterate the truth she spoke earlier. She fully accepted her fate and whispered with the little strength she had left, "I-ugh...b-believe me...p-please...I don't know..."

She bit her lip for the second time, a futile gesture. Out of reflex, she turned her chin up and yelled her anguish out as three fingers thrust inside her, thankful, that these weren't the same dagger-like fingers that tore through her garments. The pushing and pulling motions were savage, to say the least. Crimson dripping from the princess' sex down to the aggressor's wrist. Pain was not the best way to describe what she felt. Disgust, a likelier word, as the princess revolted at the thought of her body betraying her mind.

She bit her lip for the third and last time tonight, muffling her alluring noises, trying her best not to convey to her assailant that a feeling of pleasure was building up inside her. Her body shivered as the fingers kept moving in and out of her cunt, this time a thumb teasing the pink pearl above her wet slit.

Bubblegum kept repeating her mistakes; apparently lip-biting was never an effective move. Uncontrolled shocks of pleasure trailed every nerve in her body as she reached her climax, causing her to open her mouth and let out an impregnably seductive moan. Though she could not see it, she felt the aggressor's fluttering breaths brush her own lips. Was this an attempted kiss? She moaned again as the fingers slipped out of her entrance. She heard the other woman groan quietly, lustful in tone. The back of the three drenched digits ghosted the side of the princess' face, leaving fluids behind. At the sensation, Bubblegum darted her head to the side but a rough clump of muscle followed and cleaned her cheek off the clear and crimson syrup.

"You asked for that, princess. If you were as smart as the people say, you would've told me what I wanted to hear. This isn't the last of your nightmare. I'll come back from time to time to fuck with you until you change your mind", it was a surprisingly emotionless statement. Only this devil's vocals could pull off seeming hateful and lustful for a second, before speaking up again in monotone as if nothing had happened.

Bubblegum heard a hinge close; a door, presumably. No other sounds echoed through the room until the princess once again broke down with tears rolling on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I should apologize for this chapter? Lol I'll try my best to be better at writing stuff like these. I'm gonna do research and practice some more.


	5. Random Rebellion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild update appeared! Thanks for more than a hundred hits! I'll still update every Saturday but maybe I'll occasionally update every Mondays or Wednesdays.

Everything summed up negatively over Gumball's shiny round head. "There's no other lead. This can't be anything other than vengeance from the Nightosphere! I...I-uhh should've listened to her and helped her with the research. I could've prevented all of this...", he threw his open palms all around the room that missed the grace of Bubblegum's presence.

Jake stretched his legs to match Gumball's height and slung his arm around Gumball's shoulder, patting him with reassurance. "It's okay dude, don't blame yourself. We're going to sort this out."

"It's just... I can't believe I shaved my hair for this!", Gumball blurted out and crossed his arms.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT?!", Lady exclaimed, ready to headbutt Gumball out of the window.

"That's not what I mean! Let me finish! I can't believe I cleared my head off for her and now i might not get to see her laugh again...", he grumbled, with a tone of disbelief, head turning towards the open window.

"Please don't talk like she just died. I know my hero heart is telling me that she's out there somewhere. And my gut's also telling me to triple kick that jerk in the face!", Finn roared while exhibiting his nimble kicks.

"Don't just triple kick the kidnapper! Give it a fist bump! In the guts! With a rad sword!", Jake added, forming a sword with his hand and slicing up the air.

"Sir Finn, Sir Jake... You two are on a mission to the Nightosphere. You will not stop searching until the ruler of this kingdom is safely back!", Gumball intonated, eyes still affixed on the view of the landscape.

"Ahem...Our dear Princess Bubblegum is now the Ex-Ruler-of-the-Candy-Kingdom-in-the-Meantime", Peppermint Butler corrected the prince's statement. "By the order of the Royal Dessert Cookbook, I appoint you, Prince Gumball, as the rightful heir to the title of The Ruler of the Candy Kingdom in the Meantime", the butler bowed down to his new master. Gumball's eyes shifted to a shade of white.

"Prince Gumball", Finn and Jake both bent down on one knee.

"Royal ruler, Jake and I are going to run along now. It's a long and arduous journey to the Nightosphere. We're not sure how long it'll take us but the sooner we leave, the sooner we kick butts, the soonest we bring home the princess".

Prince Gumball nodded and watched as Finn climbed on Jake's back. Jake looked over to Lady and sent a flying kiss, afterwhich he stretched his paws outside the window and left.

"Oh Glob, Gumball I know that white-eyed look", Lady's angered look faded into a state of worry.

"I know, I know. I'm concerned that I won't be as good as Bubblegum. I really don't want to see how this turns out", Gumball decided to hide his eyes with both of his palms.

"I'll be here to guide you the same way as I did with the princess. You'll do fine but for now, I have to inform the rest of the land about the princess. Who knows? She could just be in a nearby kingdom", Lady hurried outside the bedroom, heading towards the castle's Aid-'Em-La-Icos Recording Studio and leaving behind the prince and the butler.

"Nice uhm...haircut milord. Now we have something common to talk about...heh...hehe?", Peppermint Butler attempted to catch Gumball's attention but to no avail. Gumball was having none of the shame and kept his hands stuck in his face.

\--_--_--| (> ~ <) |--_--_--

The days grew long and the pink hair passed; it works the other way around, unlike Gumball who couldn't find his own way around the common mishaps of the candy folk. Without the princess, something always broke out under the prince's ruling; fires, jailbirds, epidemics, and tears. Sure, Lady and Pep were there to guide him and Gumball was an intelligent scientist, but it didn't quite hit the same kind of leadership and control that Bubblegum had over her people. The past few days were a disaster and there were still no signs of the candy monarch nor the fabled knights returning from the rescue.

On the outside, it seemed like the prince's problems centered only on his lack of experience. He doesn't however, see the danger lurking right under his nose. Yet another thing broke out under his reign, a conspiracy.

It started first as harmless rumours, then escalated quickly into death threats. Common names popped out from the piquant whispers of the candy people. A debatably sweet old lady elephant named Tree Trunks and a doubtlessly sour young earl named Lemongrab. Both, from Lady's intel, had a bitter past with the missing princess. The two supposedly were spreading spicy gossips that led to the candy people setting up a rebellion. There were sinister but confusing plans echoing from the shadows of the citizens.

New rumours were perpetuated by the resentful duo; stories of the dubbed Missing Monarch secretly working for evil, as if the events of the black hole were just a plot to hide her true plans to absorb the Lost or Late Lord's crystal and conquer the universe. Things were getting out of six hands, the prince, the butler, and the adviser thought. Gumball wished for his hair to grow back and for his temporary reign to end soon.

The prince was both an unfortunate and fortunate man, being granted not just one, but two of his wishes, however it was not in the way he wanted it to be. His hair grew out frizzy and unkempt and there was no princess, but the rebellion did materialize. Tree Trunks and Lemongrab stood on the town square one day, and crowds of the princess' own people gathered around to betray her. Being gullible little beings, the rebels barged into the kingdom, shouting profanities and calling names related to the princess working for what they believed to be evil.

When Prince Gumball, Peppermint Butler, and Lady Rainicorn were surrounded by the renegades, they clung to what they thought to be the only logical thing that was left to do. Escape. Lady offered a ride and the other two climbed up. The trio flying into the outskirts of the kingdom and hoping to run far away from the once cheerful and sweet land. Gumball looked back and cried over failing to take care of the kingdom just as the princess expected for him to do. He looked over the shrinking silhouette of Lemongrab who was announcing of their victory. Soon, his eyes couldn't register a single sight of the Candy Kingdom. Discomfited, he acknowledged that his sovereign has come to an end.


	6. The Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things really are burning slowly. Pardon me for the slow weekly updates because college sucks (at least for me). Even I can't wait to write the actual Bubbline in this thingy. Anyway, Valar Morghulis...

"I-it's f-f-flip-p-pin' fuh-reeeeeezing huh-heeeere!!! Jake, shave your fur for me! Then make me a reaaaalllyyy soft, fluffy, coat! Please, please, please? For your little bro?", Finn's eyes rivalled those of the pleading ones his canine best friend made.

"F-f-fiinnn...y-you knoww I can't d-do th-th-at! Y-you want m-me to freeeeze t-to death?! But you know wh-what? I s-see l-light! From that awes-s-s-oomee looking mountain!", stiff golden fur struggling to point towards a bizarre blue mountain with two circular holes near the snow-white peak that seemed like eyes and a spacious cave, agape, and seemed like a wailing mouth.

Before any words of hope could spill out of the young knight's mouth, he fell face first into the thigh-high blanket of white. Jake ran towards his adoptive brother, screaming words of concern and managing to shake the blonde knight's back thrice before the dog himself, succumbed to the blizzards.

\--_--_--| ( - _ - ) |--_--_--

"You two are going to thank my great skyhooks! Really reeled you in from the depths of death! And thank the Grod of above that my penguins found you with pulses! If I had been a wee bit more late, I would've stumbled on your tasty corpses, chopped you up, and fed you to the polar bears! Dang, I hate how they chewed up my precious Gunther's beak!", a shrilling old man's voice echoed into Finn's ear.

"Wenk", a penguin, that's all it was, nothing else could make that sound, Finn thought.

"Shush, Gunther! Don't ruin my monologue with your sass!", the old man's previously concerned voice fell staccato to a harsh grumble, every syllable accompanied with hip swishes. "Ohoho! Merry Awakening, blonde soybean!", the shriek directed to Finn, who was slowly regaining vision.

This majestically tattered dude, he described, is simply amazing at shifting his intonations and emotions. He observed the man from head to toe. Apparently he's not just a lonely, pale blue man who spent his life practicing soliloquy with a penguin audience. He was a king. He had a regal crown with three rubies affixed on its center and its sides. He also had a legendary long flowing beard, devoid of color, it indicated his age. Finally, Finn chortled at the lonely king's garments. Was it really just a huge blue tablecloth with holes cut for his head and arms and dangling on his body like a dress? Cliche questions nonetheless, the answer is yes; the dress made him look fat.

Finn sat up from what appears to be a makeshift bed. It was an icicle stalagmite, the sharp top cut off to make it safe for butts or backs to sit or lay on. The biggest query on the young boy's mind however, was how in radical thermodynamics did this ice stump feel so warm and comfy! He'll remind himself again and again to ask the princess about this when the mess is finally over. He then witnessed the old king walk away from him and towards the entrance of the cavern, which doubled as a window.

"What is it with candy kids these days? I saw everything through my wizardly legit peeping scope!", the king stuck an eye on the purple telescope. "Terrible, terrible things...I absolutely love the royal revolt drama though. I'm so excited to see the next episode!", another change in tone, one of a cliche narrator from a cheesy television series. "Previously on The Rotten Sunny Side Up Egg Wars, Prince GumBald regained the name Gumball after growing out his hair. Meanwhile, Apple Pie and Lemon Tart had success in overthrowing the hairy reign of Gumball. Lemon Tart, ably avenging his own sad baldness! Talking Rainbow, Talking Mint, and Prince Gumball escaped the kingdom, which admittedly doesn't make sense to me about it being called a kingdom when CLEARLY, the princess ruled it before! As with every pointless kingdom in Ooo ruled by princesses!"

"Wenk", the penguin cut off the cold king again.

"No Gunther! No commercials yet! I was just so absorbed in the drama! Now where was I before you rudely squawked at me? Oh, right! The three refugees ended up in the land of ice and snow. Then a super HANDSOME and COOL wizard used his skyhooks to bring them in the icy mountain! Cue angsty anticipation music, Gunther!", the penguin ran towards a ragged keyboard, but it perfectly produced eerie noises anyway.

"What's going to happen next? Is this new character going to wickedly chop up the remains of the three and feed them to the nasty polar bears? Or is he just WICKEDLY COOL? Find out what's gonna happen next on the next installment of THE ROTTEN SUNNY SIDE UP EGG WARS! This series is sponsored by a dude from across the fabric of space-time, tapping away on, quote and unquote, keyboard keyyyyssss..."

"YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT NOW ON MY LOVELY WIFE? AND GUMBALL? AND PEPPERMINT?", Jake made his presence loud and clear, too loud in fact that his roar shook the fragile cave and a stalactite dropped on the mad king's head. He sat up on an ice bed next to Finn. His fur stood, looking like he was awoken by the king's sinister plans.

"Owwowwoww! What was that for? Oh wait...I'm so super terribly sorry. I forgot that you two left on the first few minutes of the fifth episode! I didn't mean to spoil you two!", the king started sobbing by then. "I can't believe you're all actually here! In my kingdom! And I'm going to be a major character in this shampooooo-err, soap opera that grappled the spirits of as many audiences as it could...", the king held up a finger, "One. Me. I'm the only audience and superfan. Can I get your autographs? Wait...does this mean I have to get my own autograph too?", Glob did this king meander to an abyss of his own thoughts.

"Dude...is...is he just wickedly evil? Insane? Cool?", Finn whispered to his angered friend.

"I dunno man, he must be up to something. He's got sociopath skills! I bet he captured Princess Bubblegum just for his stupid soap opera!", Jake eyed the mad wizard and morphed his hand into a dagger.

"Chill out man. Maybe he's nice? A Nice King? Maybe he didn't do anything to our friends. I mean, look at us bro! We almost died back there but we're still alive! He saved us. No doubt he did the same with Lady, Gumball, and Pep. I say we just ask him", Finn patted Jake's shaking shoulders.

"Hey, mister Nice King!", Finn caught the old man's attention.

"My best bosoms from the Wizard Kingdom call me Ice King", Ice King corrected the boy.

"Oookaaayy... Ice King, where's Talking Rainbow, Talking Mint, and Prince Gumball?", Finn smiled at the way Ice King reacted. The old man's grin rocketed to the heavens knowing that Finn actually paid attention to his ramblings. He was blissful knowing that he made a new friend, and maybe a new superfan for his made up show.

"Aww buddy I'm sure you're excited to see your co-stars but first, I got you two some presents! I'll be right back my best buds!", oddly, Ice King's beard flapped like a pelican's and he flew away to a small cranny in the cavern.

"See dude, I don't think he's so bad", Finn smiled and winked to his best friend.

"I'm back y'all! I hope you enjoy my gifts. I know it seems rushed, but it's super sweet!", Ice King held out three head-sized boxes wrapped creatively in shiny dotted papers and silky ribbons.

Finn took one of the presents on his lap and raised his hands, wiggling his fingers, waiting for Jake to get ready for the surprise. Jake on the other hand, grew out two more hands. He posed like Finn, ready to tear through the presents. Unlike Finn however, he didn't flail his twenty fingers as excitedly as his brother.

"Open them up! Open them up!", Ice King grinned and chanted wildly at the two. So they did, opening the boxes swiftly, gladly reaping through the festive papers.

Their few frames of amusement faded into horror however, when they finally realized why the boxes were as big as heads.

Heads.

Cold, preserved heads.

A lifeless Lady and Gumball in Jake's, an inanimate Peppermint Butler in Finn's, faces frozen in fear like well-crafted sculptures inside boxes.

"Don't be shy..."

"Take a bite..."

The old man chuckled, wickedly.


	7. The Present

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Three straightforward words were all he managed to say out of his shock. He lunged full force at the mad king with a fist, dropping the box with Peppermint's head. The frozen candy shattered to pieces, decorating the floor in crimson and chrome shards. He gutted the Ice King again and again, making him spit up a bucket's worth of black and blue blood.

Jake was paralyzed at first, his head caving in on him. He carefully set aside the box with Gumball's head, paying last respect to the lifeless prince. He then slowly took out the glacial bust inside the other box and inspected it as if it were the first time seeing his lover. No doubt. It was his wife, still as beautiful as he thought however, heatless and heartless this time. He embraced what was left of Lady and cried his heart out of this tragedy. He planted one final kiss on Lady's lips; they were unbelievably sweeter than the first time he had kissed her. It literally tasted too sweet for a massacre like this.

He closed his flooded eyes and let himself drift into an old memory. He forced his thoughts to change the brutal imagery of Finn about to kill the blue maniac. Having an artistic imagination, he painted with his eyes the image of his wedding. The bright reception in the candy kingdom came in view. The air around him wafted with cake, chocolate, and skibbles. Skibbles were Lady's favourite rainbow themed treat, much similar to a human-branded pack of candy that Finn gobbled up in his seat.

"I love you, Jake. You're all I have", Lady's words sounded like a heavenly tune for him. Jake was sobbing now, every word that came out of him punctuated by tears, "And you're my whole world, Lady. Please don't leave me so soon", Jake was losing grip of the daydream, not wanting to go back to reality. "I'll never leave you, silly. I'm right here..." the memory of Lady materializing as a kiss on Jake's cheek. Everything felt so real, like it happened just yesterday, even more so, like it happened just now. Jake thanked his wild imagination, then memory came into play. He remembered something funny was about to happen in his wedding and he counted down.

Three... Two... One...

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"

Okay, wow. That's not how he remembered it. It should've been somewhere along the lines of Finn getting into a fight with another candy person for stealing his beloved pack of ancient and exotic candy. True, the younger knight was picking a fight, but with Ice King this time. "Jake, this is getting serious now. Be a dear and stop your brother. Ice King's in danger..." Lady kissed her husband again.

The messed up memory went on. Jake as he remembered, back in that day, that Gumball and Peppermint rushed to break the fight between an enraged Finn and an endangered candy folk. So that scene played out in his imagination, except this time, the prince and the butler were helping up Ice King who cried like a baby.

"Jake the Dog! Snap out of it this instant! Go to your brother! Aaaanndd...I'll get this box out of your hands", Lady placed both of her hands-errr, hooves on Jake's paws before sliding up and grabbing the unwrapped present.

Memory, Imagination, Reality, a clash of everything in his mind. He's sure to be hallucinating now, maybe out of horror from the gifts, or maybe his imagination switch just flicked a tad too much.

"Ugh! Jake, if you're not going to move your butt, i'll do it myself!", a perfectly normal living and breathing Lady set the box aside and flew over to Finn. She wrapped him up like a rainbow colored tape, disabling his fists that were smashing around the air. A lively Gumball and a sentient Peppermint then tended to the Ice King's wounds, sitting him up. The prince took a chemical-filled flask and made the traumatized king chug the contents down.

"B-but-ehh...L-lady aaandd...Skibbles? P-pepper? Aaand the-the-the gift. C-crown, Pink?! He-hea-uhhhh??? F-finn...candyy??? Huh..He...Hea??", Jake stuttered all the way to the last characters in his sentence.

"H-H-he...heads..."

Jake's vision sizzled to darkness, as if his brain, memory, reality, and imagination machine had all blown a fuse.

\--_--_--| ( O _ O ) |--_--_--

"Hyper. Realistic. Ice. Popsicles...", Lady's voice was frighteningly calm at first, every word she spoke filled up a balloon that's ready to burst into anger.

"...OF OUR HEADS ADORNED WITH OUR FACES STARING INTO DEATH!!!", the balloon popped, blasting air pressure into Gumball and Peppermint's faces. Lady slammed her hooves on the table made out of ice. The force created two cracks that ran from the impact and veined towards the prince's and the butler's side of the table. The two of them gulped in sync. Their eyes all white now.

"DECORATING THEM WITH FRIGHTENED FACES WAS HIS IDEA! NOT MINE! L-lady, please d-don't rip my head off and turn it into an actual wall mount", Gumball pointed a digit towards the butler. Instinctively, the prince covered his head with his limp arms.

"Y-y-you coward, milord, coward! I just made the face! The flawlessy-calculated geometry of the sculpture was your idea, m-milord! I-if you didn't stick with that idea, I wouldn't have improved on it!" The guilty servant, at a loss of words. "I-I-uhh...thoughtitwouldbefunnyandfinnandjakewouldlaughatourgifts", the butler rapped ever so quickly and silently, hoping Lady woudn't understand a thing he said. The butler, almost losing his red stripes, copied Gumball's dastard posture.

"WELL YOU TWO THOUGHT WRONG!!!" Lady darted towards her friends and threw a flurry of slaps. Her swings weren't very forceful. She didn't wish to hurt her friends, rather, she just wanted to give them a lecture; hopefully she knocked the two's brains back in the right place and make them give up on ever planning stupid prank gifts.

"Ohohh wowee!!! First day on the job and I'm already casted in an action packed episode! Bring it on, Glommit of stardom!!!", the old man ripped his blue robe into half, revealing a body covered in bandages, and well, undergarments, sort of. He lively combatted the air around him and didn't seem to be fazed one bit by Finn's earlier rampage.

"Hey...what's the commotiooo-eeeughh!", Finn stepped in the Ice King's dining area, first with a fresh-from-sleep look, and afterwards a disgusted one. Well, it doesn't look like a welcoming place to eat anymore, what with Lady slapping around Gumball and Pep like that, and...

Yup. That's...that's Ice King alright. And he's whirling his undies over his head like a cowboy. He had one foot tiptoed, and the other high-kicking whatever invisible actor he saw in the room. The embarrassing scene stirred Finn up, fully awake now.

"F-finn? What's going on the-eeeEEUUGHHH?!", Jake's eyes and mouth expanded like a black hole. His shout of disgust was notably louder than Finn's as he entered the room. So loud in fact that he was able to stop his slap-frenzied wife. As Lady, Gumball, and Peppermint Butler stopped flailing around, all eyes in the room redirected to the Ice King. An ungodly sight, but out of irony, nobody blinked or stopped staring as the old man kept spinning and kicking.

"I'm gonna...take care of whatever this is...right now", two yellow arms spaghettied their ways into a large blue sheet of tablecloth placed conveniently on a table near the Ice King. Another one of Jake's arms grew out and morphed into scissors. Three swift snips and the Ice King got a brand new robe. With a proud look, Jake dropped the cloth over the Ice King. He realized how closely similar the improvised garment was to the previous one.

"Exchange gift?", the cold man's eyes sparkled in appreciation. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!"

"Laaaadyyy!!!", the dog ran with tears of joy. "Oh Glob my nightmare felt so real! I love you so much, baby!", he exclaimed while peppering kisses to his wife's head like he had found a million new reasons to love her.

"Uhh, babe? That's because it was real. We all have some explaining and catching up to do". Lady trailed into a giggle, "Oh, and of course I love you very much too, Jake."

"Heyeyeyey! Can I narrate the recap? I got a good view of everything from my peeping scope!", Ice King could never be happier. "Gunther! Bring us some popcorn! This is gonna be a fun marathon!"

"Wenk, wenk!", the pitter-patter of webbed feet followed.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?", Gumball shrugged his shoulders.

"When we're done with this, we can even plan the next episodes together! Pretty soon we'll be on a quest for the princess! She's such a hottie!", Ice King spoke fast. The last part of his dialogue barely audible yet Finn's ears still caught the words and his cheeks still reddened.

"I doubted him at first but I think I know the answer to the hanging question from the previous episode", Jake nudged his brother.

"I think he's wickedly cool."


	8. State of the Night

The Nightosphere is an Ooo-niversal oddity.

This is a world where the atmosphere was never graced by the light of the sun, yet it stayed lit by the fires roaming around from who-knows what or where. Nobody can account for the origins of the flames. Some came from souls who played with pyrotechnics in their previous life. Some came from wannabe rockstars who doubled as stuntmen, running wildly with flaming guitars and other instruments. Some came from fire-breathing dragons and the occassional dragon-breathing fires. The list of incinerating, light-up anomalies goes on and on. Naturally, the ambiance presented a warm shade of red and orange. The perpetual tinge of sunset sat on the horizon.

This is a world where the lithosphere quaked every now and then, leaving homes, malls, hospitals, schools, and more suspiciously normal buildings, into shambles of igneous rock and sulfuric dust. As if magically, not a single soul gets injured in the disasters. The doctors and engineers in the nightosphere have existed for a couple of millenia, staying in the same occupation for the rest of their almost immortal life. Random tremor? Cakewalk to the practicioner's of medicine and engineering.

This is a world where the hydrosphere smelled like burning blood. That's because it's all there is to it. A sea of crimson caught in a boiling point in between plots of land. It's not much of a problem for everyone. Some citizens fancy the taste of blood. Others made ingenious ways to harvest mineral water from the fiery red fluids.

This is a world where, despite everything that was mentioned earlier, the biosphere flourished miraculously safe and sound. Years and years of adaptation flowing in the veins of every living and 'non-living'-living thing. The Nightosphere is a rich ang generous host of races and species. Every creature from the depths of myths, legends, and even normalcies found the chaotic world as a humble dwelling place.

Honestly, the word chaotic is an overstatement. In that domain of ominous wildfires and bestial beings, everything was ironically halcyon and controlled.

Disciplined.

It is how the Nightosphere should be described. It is the word that would never have embellished the perplexing hell if it weren't for a myriad of years of laborious efforts by a certain demon in tuxedos.

The legends say that from the beginning of space and time, all things malevolent manifested into a hexagonal jewel that shone the darkest shade of red – The Pandemonium Crystal. Only a few years later, Grod created a humanoid form with a chiseled grey body and the face of an angel to guard the evil stone. For some reason, that unholy deity loved to wear formal, jet-black, business attires. He also had the eyes of a snake, the ears of a bat, and the mouth of a shark. He has an innumerable amount of powers. Shapsehifting into a colossal, sphere-headed, soul-sucking demon, was his favourite.

There were many stories about the malicious overlord, but most were lost in time, just as he is now. The Lost Lord of the Nightosphere is a cunning devil, but he didn't deserve the fiendish names. In truth, but not in books and bedtime tales, Hunson Abadeer is the hero who kept in check the evil sleeping in the sinister jewel chained to his neck.

Ever since Abadeer got sucked into the candy monarch's portal, everyone just assumed he had died. Every single sentient being on Ooo expected that the Nightosphere would crumble and spell out destruction at the loss of a ruler.

But it didn't.

\--_--_--| ( x _ x ) |--_--_--

"Your highness, what should be our next action?", a ruby-furred werewolf roared.

"Ninety-eight..."

"Highness! Highness! Is the Nightosphere ready to clash against the Candy Kingdom? With a monarch missing, we're sure to defeat them!", a teal-scaled lizard hissed.

"Ninety-nine..."

"Our queen! What do we make of the feud with the Flame Kingdom? Surely they will be a problem to us!", a purple-dyed ghost whistled.

"That's the HUNDREDTH question you all threw at me without letting me answer every single one of them! How does d-Hunson Abadeer have patience for any of you? Arrrgh, let's not do anything stupid that will put this world and our men in danger! We can't just send our troops to attack any kingdom whenever we want! The whole point of the Nightosphere is to contain evil – not barging around and conquering everything just because we're powerful enough! I'm sure this is what Lord Abadeer would want – for us to defend ourselves! We are not going to ruin the Late Lord's reputation by spearheading this war on Ooo! Lord Abadeer worked his whole life to stick in everyone's brains the idea that we're not warfreaks!", the grey-skinned vampire's words were fearsome indeed. A multitude of queries were swallowed back in fear by the monstrous crowd.

"It's final. We're not going to destroy the Candy Kingdom. If we do, everyone else will come for us. My order instead, will be for the smart souls, whatever they're called here, to research about what the Glommit just happened to Lord Abadeer. That's all we need. To bring him back because I am not going to take his forsaken place for the rest of eternity!", the vampire scowled at the audience. In a few seconds, one of her hands morphed into a freakishly dark and hairy paw. She closed it into a fist and perforated the podium she had used moments ago, leaving a hollow of splinters in the fixture.

She stormed out of the conference hall and punched another hole into the huge wooden door on her way out. She left behind people in the room, muttering and processing in their heads the words that the vampire queen had parted them.

Another vampire followed the queen out of the hall; concern written all over her face. Her dead skin wasn't a typical color of the blood-sucking species. Hers was a slightly dark shade of brown, almost like coffee. Her charcoal hair is her most prominent feature, sitting on her head like a soft cloud of short curls. At first, her sleek frame made her look flimsy, but something about the bronze draconic badge centered on her reddish leather armor sent shivers down any onlooker's spine. She made it seem like an awfully encumbering ivory greatsword leaned weightless on her back.

"My queen, wait! Please tell me about- ", the vampiric general caught the vampire queen's arm for a split second before her hand was slapped away.

"Keila, please. Don't you think i've had enough questions today? Just let me rest. Go shout at your soldiers or something! And can't you just drop the queen thing?", the queen's tone was like an unbalanced rock on the summit of a mountain. One more gust of inquiry and her ferocious mask will go down in a landslide.

"Fine, i'll call you Marceline! J-just listen to me! I've known you since the beginning of the Mushroom War, and that was like a thousand lifetimes ago! Don't think that I can't see through your tough act! You're like a sister to me so you have to tell me what's wrong so I can help you", Keila's face contorted in concern.

"I just want everything to go back to the way it was before that dumb pink thing fucked up! I hate doing all of this! I hate being put in charge without knowing what to do! I hate the stupid fact that the people who mean so much to me are leaving me one by one. My brother left us, my mother died, and now my dad's nowhere to be found because of that...that ugh! And...and you, Keila. I feel like i'm starting to lose you because of your job. Don't get me wrong, i'm proud of you for taking over the army but...but I miss being able to rock out with you at Xanadu...", Marceline's tears peeked out her eyes and collapsed into her best friend's open arms.

"Hey, hey...calm down, Marcy. I'm not going anywhere. Look, we're doing our best to find the princess and ask her about what happened. I hope you don't go on and put a grudge on her so easily. For so many years she's been a good ally to Lord Abadeer – giving us the latest in technology and even helping him control that sickening chain on his neck. We're not even sure yet if she did it on purpose. Her adviser once said that the superweapon was tampered", Keila embraced the sobbing monarch and brushed her flowing hair with her delicate hands.

"Keila...they just literally called it a superweapon. It was meant to do harm", her sobbing stopped just to make a sarcastic remark.

"Ugh, Marcy stop worrying so much about their words. It's probably just a cultural thing. Tell you what, when the princess is finally saved, i'm going to completely forget about all my duties for a day and we're gonna drink, and party, and jam out at Xanadu. My treat. Sounds good?", the triumphant vampire flashed her sharp and shiny teeth to the grinning queen.

"Yeah, yeah...you win this time, Keila. I'll stop whining about everything for a while. I'm gonna head off now but I really look forward to hanging out with you. And remember to keep my kinship a secret. Man, these chumps really don't know a thing.", Marceline broke out of Keila's embrace to regain her robust poise and meet the latter's gaze.

"Yeah, uhm...one last question, dear? I was looking for you at a late hour about a few days ago. I was hoping to take you out for dinner but I couldn't find you. Where were you?", the general, who was also a head detective, uttered words that came out of pure curiosity, not interrogation.

"Maybe I was just in the dungeons doing royal business stuff?", she felt her throat dry up for a while.

"Marceline, the Nightosphere has a zero crime rate. You can't tell me you have dungeon business without letting suspicion ooze out of you", Keila huffed, mockingly putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay shush! Maybe I was having a tea party with Hambo or whatever! It's none of your business!", she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, right. See yah, Mar. Maybe i'll crash your tea party some time just to see if you're telling the truth", Keila waved and walked away with a dubious smirk.


	9. A Sense of the Abyss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:  
> Sexual violence,   
> explicit content,   
> and some "unnecessarily big but I just randomly picked them from the thesaurus to sound smart" words (Sorry I just thought I should include it because maybe some peeps might hate those kinds of words but they're necessary for pb right now. But hey, we learn new things everyday. Don't worry, it won't stay for the whole story.)
> 
> Author's Other Thoughts:  
> Oh good Glob, I am late for this for a few hours I really have to apologize. I slept through my Saturday night and now I'm also late for some acads requirements. I aM sUcH A ReSpOnSiBlE stUdEnT (insert meme).

She's starting to get used to the dark.

"I take it that you're not going to spit out the truth any time soon so I figured, why don't I just shut your useless fucking mouth!", a shuffling of cloth ensued.

Another foreign object touched a part of her body. This time, she felt a rough fabric tied around her mouth to the back of her head.

Every encounter with the kidnapper had been the same, familiar moment of torture; yet every action done to her felt so vaguely different that it elicited an even more intense sensation the previous one. Each intimate advancement so innovative that if it were a scientist, it would beat her ass in discovering the secrets of the universe. That doesn't mean though that her ass didn't get beat with a whip recently to make her discover a secret source of pleasure. She can't really remember when that happened. Apparently, not seeing the sun or the moon made her lose track of time in this little world.

However, not seeing anything at all certainly heightened her other senses. Firstly, whenever the assailant muffled her mouth with a hand, she could discern specific scents of smoke, ash, blood, and wine from the pointer going down to the pinkie finger. Secondly, she was so sure that when the attacker's forked tongue accidentally brushed her lip, there was a lingering taste of strawberries that were sweeter than the ones she had harvested in the Candy Kingdom. Thirdly, she noticed that every time the stimulations she took sparked her to finish into a luscious moan, she would subconsciously chew on her own lip just so she could hear her ravisher's lasciviously baited breaths of pleasure. Finally, she sensed something she would never admit, not even to herself – she felt like she was getting used to the tenebrific blindfold, the peculiar redolence, the subtle dessert, and the distasteful penetrations; she was so habituated to all of it in fact, that maybe...she's starting to take delight in it.

"MMMMHHHH!!! Hmmmmpphh!!! Mmmnnnnn!!!", she wanted so badly to deafen the sickening thoughts in her head.

"Wow, I really fucking broke you didn't I? I tied up your mouth so you would shut up but instead, all I get is you screaming louder than before!", the source of the harsh words grappled the pink monarch's jawline and tilted her chin up at an uncomfortable angle.

"Hhhmmmmpppphhhh!!! Hhhhnnnnnnn!!!", her coughs and yells dampened the fabric between her lips.

"Are you trying to challenge me? You're incredibly noisy today you know. I think I should do something to keep your whining down", the grip on the princess' jaw tightened; the sultry smell of smoke slithered underneath her nose. A free hand pranced around her right collarbone, the palm avoided the touch of her smooth pink skin. Five fingers slowly slipped south while counting down to one. The index digit halted on the missing monarch's delicate pink nub.

"Mmmnn...", her groan, a decrescendo, muting down any hint of lust.

"Looks like I just found the volume knob. Let me just tweak it a bit. You sound so awful...", the succubus around her whispered sinfully in her left ear. Her body shivered while her nipple hardened, getting twisted and tuned like pegs on a guitar.

"Mmmmpphh...Mmnnn...Hmmphh...Hhhff...", it was impossible to conceal the pleasure; she moaned in sync with the turning and pinching motions on her teat. A wave of heat rushed around her sex. A few more teases on her breast and she felt moisture drip out of her slit. Luckily, her ankles were tied no more so she crossed her legs to hide her growing wetness.

"You're a disgrace, princess. You're fucking filthy. I'm turning you into a disgusting piece of chewed up gum", the seductive devil's words were treading nonchalantly on the princess' shameful secret.

"Mmmnn...mmnnn...hhhhnn", the hand previously on her jaw now dangerously flaring lower than the one playing with her breast.

"Oh, c'mon! You're not even trying to hold it in anymore, bitch! Have you lost the fire in you? Have you already given up on your body betraying your mind? Or...or is there something you're not telling me...", the cold hand lusciously grazing the princess' hips.

"Hhmmmphh...Hhhmmmm!!!", her heart drumming over the devil's prying teases. Three fingers pushed their way between the monarch's tight legs; they pressed against the aroused lips, clumsily rubbing and spreading the sweet dew around the princess' fervent folds.

"Your fucking regal prissy majesty, are you...", the vamping rhetoric ready to reap the dignity out of the royalty. The tempter's pointer and ring finger applied opposing forces to the sides of the princess' slippery slit, leaving it ajar; the middle finger curled upwards, repeatedly into a come-hither motion, ghosting without penetrating the arousal.

"Mmmhhhmmm! Mhhh...Mhhh...", the princess luridly swung her head sideways as the middle finger sluggishly creeped inside her warmth.

"Are you...actually enjoying this?", she couldn't see how the assailant victoriously smirked, revealing a carnassial fang.

The last three words stopped all the movements in the room for a few seconds. The ravager ceased her insulting gestures and her heart didn't beat – it never did. The princess' head lay jaded on her left shoulder; glistening sweat dead on its track on the bridge of her nose. Her hair like cotton candy, curtained on her forehead and around her neck. The beguiling breaths and moans she barely repressed finally winded into tranquility.

Bubblegum's breast began to oscillate up and down; her lungs recovering from the undesirable accuracy of her assailant's tidings. Her respiration struggling to keep up with her own heartbeat – surely it had reached the speed of light.

"You are...aren't you?", gravitas and silence died. The victor pierced the defeated's burning and dripping opening with one stiffened finger, like a gladiator desecrating its foe's pride with a sword.

"Nnnhhh..." she wanted to say 'no' but, it felt like a 'yes' and it sounded like a gratifying moan.

A diabolical laugh burst out from the devil's deepest desires. She resumed making a toy out of Bubblegum's firm nipple; flicking it around like a switch, making her pink brows twitch. The other hand between the princess' legs continued the unfinished business. Her middle finger eased in and out of the steamy slit at an agonizing adagio.

"All this fucking time you were getting what you want while here I was thinking that i'm torturing you to the brink of admitting to me your crime against our Lord Hunson! Why, your foul majesty? Didn't your loyal people let you touch yourself to sleep? Or did your dirty little mind try to create a sentient being for the sole purpose of fucking you only to fail because you don't know a thing about the sins like we're having now? Were you so sexually deprived in your sweet and holy kingdom? So much that the way i'm fucking you while you're chained in my dungeon is turning you on!", her syllables and fingers danced all over the princess' physically and emotionally defiled body in allegro.

"Mmhhh...hmmmm!! Hmmmppph...Hmmm...", utterly useless attempts at sending the devil back to hell. She could feel a familiar pressure building up in her body.

"Wait, don't tell me! Even the way I talk disgustingly dirty to you is starting to make you horny. Pretty soon I don't even need to touch you to make you scream and drip everywhere, princess. Soon, you're going to think that my insults and threats are nothing more than invitations for sex! That's right, you're loving this. You're begging me to treat you like the thirsty whore you are!", a second digit joined the presto thrusting inside the princess' entrance.

"Mmmhh...hmm! Hhhmmm! Hmmm!", she groaned every time the fingers hit a sensational spot. Defeated, she began to think that there's no reason to deny her feelings anymore so she lustfully pleaded and begged through wet cloth. She gave in to the devil's desires; bucking her own hips against the fingers that drenched and drilled within her and salaciously moaned and exhaled because - face it – she wanted nothing more now than to reach her budding orgasm.

"Y'know...as much as I love to hear your delicious noises, i'd like to hear more about what happened to Lord Abadeer. But, since you're so selfish all the time with your evil little secret against the Nightosphere..." the devil, once more in a haphazard tone, still thrusting her two weapons, now in vivace.

"No..." the princess whimpered in her head.

"Wouldn't it be a shame for you if..." her digits dancing moderato.

"No, please don't..." a scientist's silent prayer.

"I just rudely...fucking..." her fingers fading larghissimo.

"No, no, no! Don't...please, don't..." a fallen warrior's last unspoken wish.

"Stop."

Two souls, two distinct meanings; one second, one excruciating word.

Once more, the dark doesn't seem like a welcoming place. She heard a rusted hinge rustle in the void then silence followed. She was left alone again in tears but this time, with a longing that nothing else could fill.


	10. Ignition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Irrelevant Thoughts:
> 
> Prof: I can't come to class today bec-  
> Me (As Tiny Tim): im sO HAPPY HA-HA!!! HAPPY GO LUCKY MEEEE!!!  
> Me: *posts a chapter quite early*

Nothing burns brighter than the Fire Kingdom.

Not even the Candy Kingdom's array of lightworks could outshine its flares. While Princess Bubblegum's fear of the dark ignited her to create all sorts of contraptions that could produce artificial light, it was simply the first Flame Count's pure rage that illuminated the largest kingdom in Ooo.

Not even the Nightosphere's catastrophic blazes could out-scorch its flames. While Lord Abadeer's peculiar people accounted for most of the igneous trails of havoc in the world of chaos, it only took one ancient Flame Lord's spell to fully singe a continental plot of volcanic land.

Indeed, the entire Fire Kingdom, and every single individual in it, is a force to reckon. Their prowess in pyrokinesis and fire-to-hand combat is second to none, even their fighting spirit, is nothing short of legends. With all of the power in every fire citizen's hands, it isn't hard to imagine that the Fire Kingdom could be the most powerful land in all of Ooo.

But it isn't.

Despite the Fire Kingdom's victory in being a "better hell" than the Nightosphere, it could not defeat the latter in an age old feud for control over some of the kingdoms in Ooo. In fact, even for thousands of years of trying, their fiery dominion always failed to conquer the whole world. This abundance of loss however, is not a puzzle to anyone. This is because, ironically, the brightest fire in Ooo does not equate to the brightest of minds. What the flame people have in strength, they lack in strategy. In truth, they don't really like to think too much. They don't even care about thinking of better names for their kind. Everyone's name is just a variation of the word "fire" or "flame".

This era's new leader however, would do her best to be different from the previous rulers. Aside from being a princess, and not a king or a prince, it's her way of thinking that strayed far from the ideals of using pure rage in every situation. She would make the citizens and the army reconsider the importance of knowledge in wars. She promised to do everything just to avenge the death of his father, the previous Flame King who was killed by ice in an attempt to conquer Ooo. This princess just might be the evil heroine that would once and for all put the Fire Kingdom in its highest place.

\--_--_--| ( x _ x ) |--_--_--

"Your brightness, I bring you wonderful news!", a tiny flame creature skipped inside the red hall and towards a golden-orange throne. As he pranced around, his tail wagged and hit a few sunset colored furnishings.

"Come, Flambo. Please, do tell me what I need to know", a poised voice echoed around the palace. This princess was stunning in the way that she could speak so softly as if she didn't come from the Fire Kingdom. Her blood-orange hair swayed upwards like fire as she stood and took a few steps towards Flambo, who was now dancing in place. She crossed her left arm to support her right elbow as she gently stroked her chin, gesturing how readily excited she was to hear whatever the little creature had to say.

"All our hundreds of thousands of men have finished the preparations for the war! Ready to finally melt the Candy Kingdom away into oblivion! And once that's over, we have all the conditions we need to kill everyone in the Nightosphere!", Flambo stuck his little tongue out and flailed his fiery hands.

"Hehehe, that's really cute but that's not how things should go for us to win. I have something else in mind", the evil inside the princess started to emanate as a sly grin. She dropped the arm that held her elbow and further raised her right hand. She slowly moved her bangs away from her face and towards the side between her ear to reveal the red gem lodged on her forehead.

"You see Flambo, this is where every leader, including my father, made a mistake. We don't always have to burn whoever gets in our way. First, we give them an offer to be our allies, then if they refuse, that's when we burn them up. I have a feeling that this rebellion in the Candy Kingdom could actually lead us to our victory. Princess Bubblegum has somewhat of a good army and if we can control the rebels who are leading them now, then we have control over everyone in the Candy Kingdom."

"But princess, we don't even allow alliances...it's all in the Flame Count's ruling code of-"

"Oh, forget about that! The reason we always lose is because we used to listen to that old flawed rulebook! I'm the ruler now so just focus on my orders!", the princess shouted and briefly morphed her body into a pure raging fire before transforming back and placing her hands on her waist. Flambo fllinched, still not getting used to the rare occassions when the Flame Princess would show her father's side.

"Besides, we're just going to fake the alliances. We'll just make them believe that they can actually benefit from our kingdom after this war is over. And after we finally take over Ooo, one by one we'll incinerate everyone who's not a native of our kingdom. I'm going to kill everyone who ever took part in the death of my father", she patted the little flame being's head and with her free hand, dusted away some ash stuck to her gold-trimmed orange-tinged dress.

"Oohh...uhhm...okay that sounds like your plan has some solid bones, your highness. So...what should we do first?", Flambo scratched the back of his head, trying to stay calm in front of the burning monarch.

"Order every single living being in this land to pack up. We're heading to the Candy Kingdom. I'll try to talk some sense into these rebellious rulers we've heard of and get them to work for us. If this works, we'll have more than twice the number of soldiers we have right now. If they don't cooperate, we'll make short work out of their soft bodies. Without their princess, they're nothing. If that happens, we may not have people from that silly kingdom, but it'll send a message of fear to all the other nearby kingdoms. Soon, they'll be forced to pledge their lives to us. Whatever happens, we'll win in both ways. And when it all goes according to plan, we'll have all the forces we need to crush the Nightosphere and take Ooo", the princess' words were smooth and strong. Her plans in her head were set perfectly like the rubies that lined her garments.

"Niiicee...", it was all that Flambo could say. He kept his mouth agape for a few seconds but immediately snapped and stood straight, remembering that he was being ordered by the princess.

"Oh, right uhm...I'll be back, dear princess! I'll let everyone know about your wonderful plans!", and with that, Flambo bent his body and dipped his head, almost touching the floor. He sprang back up to face away from the princess and ran outside the hall, and into the center of town to bring to everyone the Flame princess' words.


	11. Goshawks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> Not another late chapter! Nuuuuu!!!  
> Okay so, I'll have to warn some peeps here. Hell week (or weeks full of all the damned types of tests???) is coming up and there might be a couple of weeks where it'll be very difficult to write a chapter. Fear not people, because there's always a rainbow after the fuckin' rain of exams. We will have a long weekend and that means that I can write a bunch of chapters that I owe.
> 
> This note is a mess...and the next couple of chapters are just messy plot stuff so I really hope you bear with me until hell week (I should say month) is finally over.

Hidden deep inside the anatomy of a certain amphibian in the Land of Ooo is a portal to a world of secrets, gossips, trends, and espionage.

The Lumpy Space is the purple paradise for those with talents in gathering all kinds of information. The citizens worked as if they were in a surveying firm. They would accept even the most absurd espionage requests from any client across all of Ooo. They could handle cases like secretly following around a person to see if they were cheating on a client, or those that involved the stealing of recipes from a client's competitor, or even those situations where a client would just want to know whoever had a crush on them. Nothing is too immature, too impossible, or too immoral for anyone who could afford the services of the gossip birds, or "goshawks" as they call it, in the Lumpy Space.

The three reigning rulers of what everyone dubbed as the "Spy Kingdom" are Princess Melissa, Prince Brad, and the supreme leader, Lumpy Space Princess. For centuries, they've never had problems that were too serious between the three of them. Some arguments about their silly love triangle only led to weak and overly dramatic slaps and eventually, one of the two princesses temporarily winning over the prince's heart before another confrontation broke out.

During the past few days and eventful trainwrecks, things only got worse for the three. Not only did the two princesses go from harmless hits to bruising punches, but the three of them also bickered about choosing sides over the war that slowly brewed in Ooo.

One fine day over the course of normal business in Lumpy Space, the princesses decided to lash out against each other inside one of the conference-party rooms in the Bumpy Palace. The scene wasn't like a typical fight before the new war. Princess Melissa and Lumpy Space Princess only used to throw sharp insults with each other until one of them walked out without a good comeback. Now they're starting to throw sharp knives at each other. Some of the goshawks with high positions began to worry and tried to stop the two from genuinely hurting each other. Prince Brad even stepped in and suggested something that made everyone hold their breaths.

"Okay, dang Glob! You two stop it this instant! If we can't all just get together then let's just do that dumb enchantment and separate this space into three!", Brad lost his usually bored expression and replaced it with a truly hateful one. He had enough of all the fights that hindered the operations of their intel business.

"We don't do threesomes, Brad. I really lumpin' hate you for thinking that I'll be fine over you staying with that trash bump over there! Why didn't you just stay with me?!", LSP's nasally voice pounded through everyone's eardrums.

"Hah! You just can't take how better I am than you. You're jealous that you can't even make him as happy as I can. Ain't that right, Brad?", Melissa's high pitch tore the space and almost made everyone bleed out of their ears.

"I wasn't even talking to you! Stop lumpin' interrupting me with my Brad moments!"

"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!", Brad's deep sound echoed in the scene. "Let's just get this over with! I'm already done with both of you! All you do is use me in your stupid little fights! Come on and start reciting the spell already! I'm not gonna let the two of you ruin the lives of everyone in my part of space!"

"Ugh, fine! We're bumping done you smooth-smoocher!", LSP screamed at the prince but added yet another insult to the other princess.

"You did not just call me smooth, y-you...you no-good smoothie!", Melissa ran out of clever comebacks and began squinting her eyes to stop her tears from welling up.

"Yeah, that's right! Go cry like the flippin' lumpless little baby you are! And go live with that sore burning loser that you've always rooted for! C'mon, Melissa! You're so dumb for even thinking that your team stands a chance against my globbin' royal babes!", LSP insisted on bringing up the topic about the incoming war.

"Arrghhhh! You're not even making a good point, LSP! Don't you remember how your prized Bubbledumb started this lame flumpin' war?! I'm gonna make your dumb-butt friend pay for the war that's gonna begin in Ooo...", the prince's teal shade almost turned into a bitter red.

"Brad's right, dummy! I'm gonna take you down with my team, LSP. You're gonna regret everything. Oh, and this time, the Fire Kingdom will win! Begone you!", Melissa's face blushed all the way into a deep crimson.

"Fine! Have it your stupid ways! I'm gonna prove the true ruler's innocence!", the purple princess' grumble almost made the room quake.

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

"FFFIIINNNEEE!!!"

"FFFFIIIINNNNEEEE!!!"

"SHUT UP!!!", the prince snapped once again and broke up the two's volume competition before they ended up screaming the same word for an entire day.

Eventually the three started to chant in an old forgotten language, raising their arms as if calling for an invisible force. After a few seconds, the space began to vibrate and white cracks began appearing out of nowhere. The Lumpy Space had been split into three and each dominion, now resembling the same color as its ruler. Each new world now began to drift off to the place they wish to serve.

LSP's Purple Space floated towards the Ice Kingdom where she knew that her friends from the Candy Kingdom currently stayed. Melissa's Pink Space drifted over the actual Candy Kingdom. Her plan was simply to serve the kingdom that was directly against LSP's chosen alliance. Brad's Teal Space however, moved into the Nightosphere territory. He wanted to prevent the impending catastrophe that would soon fall into Ooo by offering the citizens of the Nightosphere help in finding information about the Lost Lord of the Night.


End file.
